From the South Carolina ~.~'W~~ Museum Comm1ss1on
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from the south carolina ~.~'w~~\.·I z, museum comm1ss1on VOLUME ONE, NUMBER 2 SPRING 1975 SOME GIFTS TO THE STATE MUSEUM April. The formal portions .of the prowam were held As a result of the first newsletter issued by the at Litchfield Beach with s1xty-one registrants and a Museum Commission, a number of agencies and in large number of guests attending. The group was the dividuals throughout the State have responded by largest to assemble for a meeting in the brief history offering gifts intended for exhibition or other appro of the Federation. priate use in the State Museum. Sectional meetings dealinq with Art, History and A number of these first responses have come Science took place in the afternoon followed by a from city and state agencies. Mo~t . nota~le ~re th<;>se qeneral session featuring a talk "The Role of a Stat~ from the General Services Adm1n1strat1on mvolvmg Federation of Museums" by William J. Moore, Presi portions of furniture and fittin.gs from the South Caro dent of the North Carolina Association of Museums. lina State House. Tours and receptions took place at nearby Brook The City of Columbia, through its Public Utilities qreen Gardens, Hopsewee Plantation, Pr.ince George, Department, has offered remarkable remains. of .the Winyah, Episcopal Church and. the R1ce Muse~m. Town Clock of Columbia, an instrument of h1stoncal Saturday's luncheon in the Pnnce Ge_orge. Pansh significance which has survived two fires in the Town House was provided by Trustees and fnends of the Hall and which has been in storage for many years. Rice Museum. Dr. Karl M. Lippert of Columbia has offered his The quality of the programs and tours plus the father's significant collection of West African artifacts friendly spirit at the receptions developed a warm and household goods. reaction among the delegates and guests th_at reflected Numerous individuals have offered interesting the significant progress and gr~wth that IS currently books of historical value. The most important of these, takinq place among South Carolina museums. a six-volume set, was brought to our attention by Mrs. Officers of the Federation for 1974-75 are Gurdon A. F. Hickman of Aiken who is the District Librarian L. Tarbox, President (Director, Brookgreen Garde~s), for that school district. Mrs. Hickman inquired of her Dennis T Lawson Vice President (Director, The R1ce helpers and friends and found that Mrs. Mildred Larkin Museum); Mrs. H~rbert T. Ulmer, Jr., Vic~ Presi~ent owned a set of Schoolcraft's "Indian Tribes of the (Director, Calhoun County Muse~m), Edwm E. R1tts, United States", a set of well illustrated books published Treasurer (Chief Curator, Greenville County Museum in 1851 which would be welcomed in any museum of Art), William L. Anderson, Sec.ret.ary (Assistant to library. Mrs. Larkin, a retired librarian, has given these the Director, S. C. Museum Comm1ss1on). books to the State Museum. In another part of the State, Mrs. Hugh W. Quattle A CATAWBA CLAY PIPE baum of Blackville has given her late husband's col The Catawba Indian tobacco pipe has been lection of early radios and other communications a traditional part of Catawba culture since pre instruments to the State Museum. Mr. and Mrs. Quattle historic times. The growing and smoking of baum were owners of the Shamrock Hotel in Blackville, tobacco by American Indian people gave rise to and Mrs. Quattlebaum has also given a variety of hotel the early colonial tobacco trade and subsequently accessories which are expected to be useful at a later to the modern tobacco market. date when the museum's historical rooms and house The Catawba people and other Indians of hold furnishings are assembled into exhibits. South Carolina smoked tobacco in fired pottery Through Mrs. Quattlebaum's intervention, Mrs. pipes, often highly decorated and having a reed Leonard Kelly and Mrs. L. J. Connelly, also from Black stem. Pipe smokin~ was a part of many of the ville, contributed gifts. Mrs. Kelly provided an unusuai!Y Indian ceremonies but pipes were also smoked large studio camera and other early photographer s for sociability and pleasure. accessories. Mrs. Connelly contributed a number of Today the Catawba pottery pipe is made for navigational instruments, including a sextant and ship's resale as an item of the tribe's cultural arts and compass, which her late father used during his career crafts. The Indians themselves have generally as a ship's captain. adopted the briar pipes and packaged cigarettes THE FEDERATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA MUSEUMS that they can buy in stores. The pottery. pipes, though, may still be smoked on ceremonial oc Georgetown County was the site of the Spring casions. meeting of the Federation hosted by Brookgreen Gar Catawba Pipe: courtesy of Dr. Robert L. Stephenson , dens and the Rice Museum on the 25th and 26th of Director, Institute of Archeology and Anthropology. DOES YOUR CLUB OR GROUP NEED A SPEAKER? VERTEBRATE FOSSILS OF EDISTO Members of the Museum Commission and the staff John Lane and David Scott, students at Wofford are seeking speaking dates throughout the State as an College, recently completed a project that dealt with opportunity to describe the State Museum concept and the vertebrate fossils found on Edisto Island. They its related programs. These appearances can be ad worked under the auspices of Dr. John Harrington of justed to any length program desired, with or without Wofford and Rudy Mancke of the Museum Commission slides. staff. Lane and Scott studied the research collections In addition to personally presenting the proposal at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C., to for the State Museum to as many people as possible, verify the identifications they had made while collecting the Commission is seeking to determine what South in the field. Carolinians believe would be a meaningful museum During their project period, the collectors found effort that they could support wholeheartedly. the identifiable remains of 28 mammals, 9 reptiles, If you would like to arrange for a talk and discus 2 amphibians and 11 fish. Nearly all of the specimens sion about plans for a State Museum for one of your collected were of Pleistocene age. club meetings or a school program, please contact the During the course of this project, numerous collec offices of the Commission. We will be pleased to tions of materials from the Edisto area were examined schedule an appearance in your community. and additional information is currently being sought about the location of collections that were not a part THE NEWEST MUSEUM IN SOUTH CAROLINA of the original study. The State Museum office will summarize all available data and carry the Wofford The high school band played and the sun shone based project to completion in printed form as a re brightly on Friday, April 4th, in St. Matthews where a view of vertebrate life of the past as revealed by fossils beaming audience of citizens watched as Governor found at Edisto. James B. Edwards, Former Governor John C. West, Lane and Scott will Lieutenant Governor W. Brantley Harvey, Jr., Senators contribute their speci L. Marion Gressette and Rembert C. Dennis, Repre mens to the State Muse sentative John G. Felder and Museum Commissioner um's permanent collec Guy F. Lipscomb, Jr., all came forward to note and tions when their work honor the newly completed Calhoun County Museum. with them has been com With notable assistance from numerous state, pleted. county and local funding and exhibit sources, Museum Director Mrs. Herbert T. Ulmer, Jr. and her staff, Mrs. Joseph Cooper and Mrs. Perry Brandenburg, combined their talents to convert the former Calhoun Pecan Com pany building into a 6,000-square-foot museum interior. TAPIR MOLAR Historic artifacts, including costumes, documents, from Edisto arrowheads, silver, paintings, weapons and much more are the basic properties in the museum galleries. The MRS. RICHARD M. JEFFERIES, JR. featured exhibition for the opening is a selection of Emily Jefferies first became involved in museum paintings loaned by th& Columbia Museum of Art. A matters in South Carolina as a member of the Feasi loan of artifacts from the S. C. Institute of Archeology bility Study Committee for a State Museum. Subsequent and Anthropology occupies a second gallery. ly she was appointed to the South Carolina Museum In accordance with Commission policy, the staff Commission as a Member at Large by then Governor of the State Museum Commission assisted with the John C. West. She served actively on the Commission installation and planning processes for this opening. until her untimely death on April 11, 1975. Mrs. Jefferies was active in garden club circles SEMC, THE SOUTHEASTERN in her home community in Bar'nwell and was a nation MUSEUMS CONFERENCE ally accredited Flower Show Judge. She volunteered her services to the Red Cross, Cancer Society Sind Robert Mayo, Director of the Valentine Museum in numerous church and school related activities. Richmond, Virginia, and President of the SEMC, has Mrs. Jefferies was especially keen to see that the appointed William E. Scheele, Director of the South State Museum program would serve the needs of the Carolina Museum Commission, to act as State Repre South Carolina public school system. Her warm and sentative for that organization. helpful contributions to the affairs of the South Caro The basic purpose of this appointment is threefold: lina Museum Commission will be sorely missed. to assemble information about South Carolina Museums and their activities for publication in the Conference YOUR NEWS ... IN THIS NEWSLETTER Newsletter, to seek contributions for the quarterly publication of the Conference, and to transmit to Con It's easy, just contact the Museum Commission ference members those questions, concerns and Office, preferably in writing.